State Legislative Tracker: Filibuster in Texas

Edited by Joel Williams
This week’s tracker takes a look at the partisan breakdown of state legislatures.

Weekly highlight

Last week, Delaware and New Hampshire ended their legislative sessions. Here is a brief look at issues making headlines across the country:

Minnesota: State RepresentativeRyan Winkler (D-46) sparked controversy last week after referring to a Supreme Court justice derogatorily. Following the U.S. Supreme Court's 5-4 decision last Tuesday to strike down Section 4(b) of the Voting Rights Act, which determined which states are subject to pre-clearance of changes in voting laws under Section 5, Winkler took to Twitter, saying the "...majority is four accomplices to race discrimination and one Uncle Thomas." The latter was a reference to Clarence Thomas, the high court's lone African-American member. Winkler later deleted the tweet and apologized for his variation on the phrase 'Uncle Tom,' saying that he "did not understand" it to be racist, but rather synonymous with "turncoat." In a statement released by the House Democratic caucus, he again apologized for "hastily [using] a loaded term that is offensive to many." Winkler told the Minneapolis Star-Tribune that he would not run for Secretary of State in 2014 as he had considered, but said that his decision preceded the Thomas controversy. He also said that he is not certain if the controversy will affect his future political career, hoping that people will consider his efforts in office over "the firestorm of a term that is used hastily but with no malintent."[1][2][3]

New Hampshire: New Hampshire became the nineteenth state to approve the use of medical marijuana this week by passing House Bill 537. The measure passed by a wide margin in the house and by a voice vote in the senate. People with "serious health conditions" as defined by the law will be allowed to possess up to two ounces of the drug with a doctor's prescription. Conditions that qualify for a medical marijuana prescription include: cancer, HIV, AIDS, ALS, muscular dystrophy, Crohn’s disease and Alzheimer’s disease, among others. An earlier version of the bill would have allowed patients or their caregivers to grow their own marijuana, but that provision was removed when Gov. Margaret Hassan (D) threatened to not sign the bill because of it. Four dispensaries are scheduled to open across the state in 2015 in order to provide the medical marijuana. The legislature passed a similar bill previously but it was vetoed by former Gov. John H. Lynch (D) and the legislature failed their override.[4][5][6]

Texas: State Senator Wendy Davis (D) led a one-woman filibuster last week to block a measure put forth by Republicans that would greatly restrict abortions in the state. Opponents of the measure estimate that the bill would shutdown 37 of 42 clinics in Texas because the clinics lack the resources to undergo expensive upgrades to comply with new regulations.[12] Thirteen hours after Davis began the filibuster, she committed her third rule violation, ending the filibuster before the midnight deadline.[13] A vote finally took place with the Texas State Senate voting 19-10 in favor of the measure, but the vote was not legal because the midnight deadline had passed. Lt. Governor David Dewhurst (R) pushed for a vote before the deadline, but it was unable to be completed in time because of a large crowd made up of pro-choice supporters that filled the senate gallery. Upset about the filibuster and its result, Governor Rick Perry (R) has ordered the Texas State Legislature into another special session on July 1st to discuss the measure on abortion restrictions again. The abortion bill will have to be voted on and passed by the Texas House of Representatives for a second time before Democrats and Republicans in the Senate each have another opportunity to defend their viewpoints.[14]

As of today, July 1, 2013, the following figures represent the cumulative partisan breakdown of the 50 state senates and 49 state houses. In the 50 states, Republicans currently control 51.2% of all seats while Democrats hold 47.5%. All told, Republicans control 57 chambers while Democrats are the majority in 40 chambers. One chamber is tied, while one is nonpartisan.

State Houses

The partisan composition of state houses refers to which party holds the majority of seats in the state house or the lower level of each state legislature. Altogether, in the 49 state houses, there are 5,383 state representatives.

As of July 1, 2013, the breakdown of chamber control by party is as follows:

20 chambers

29 chambers

Cumulative numbers

As of March 2, 2015, 5,357 state representatives are affiliated with either the Republican or Democratic parties. This total is updated monthly.

Party

Number of

Percentage

Democratic state representatives

2,343

43.4%

Republican state representatives

3,014

55.5%

Independent state representatives

19

0.35%

Third party representatives

6

0.11%

Vacancies

25

0.46%

Vacancies

As of March 2, 2015, there are 25 state house vacancies in 14 different states. This total is updated monthly.

Independents

As of March 2, 2015, there are 25 state representatives in 10 states identifying as independents or parties other than Democratic and Republican. Three members of the Maine House of Representatives are non-voting Native American representatives. This total is updated monthly.

There are three special sessions ongoing this week in California, Texas and Washington. The West Virginia State Legislature held a one-day special session on April 17 to finish remaining business from the regular session.[17] The Mississippi State Legislature held a one-day special session on April 26 to approve incentives for a foreign tire maker to open a plant in the state.[18] The Arizona State Legislature held a brief special session this week concurrently with the end of their regular session, primarily to pass a budget that included Medicaid expansion.[19][20] Mississippi held a two-day special session to approve Medicaid funding and reauthorization.[21]

California

During his State of the State address on January 24, GovernorJerry Brown (D) called for the Legislature to hold a special session concurrent with the regular session in order to bring the state in compliance with the federal Affordable Care Act. The special session began January 28 and is expected to last until May 30.[22][23] As of June 11, 2013, four of the six major bills being considered by the legislature have not been finalized.[24]

Texas

GovernorRick Perry (R) called the legislature back into special session to work on an abortion bill after Sen. Wendy Davis (D) led an 11-hour filibuster to prevent its passing in time for the close of the first special session. Also affected by the filibuster and expected to be discussed are bills relating to transportation and juvenile justice.[25]

Washington

On May 13, the Washington State Legislature reconvened for a 30-day special session to pass a budget. GovernorJay Inslee (D) suggested that while the budget was the most important piece of legislation to pass during this special session, he wanted lawmakers to consider a number of bills that stalled during the regular legislation session, such as drunk driving and gun control laws.[26] The Washington State Legislature had to reconvene for a second 30-day special session after the first session failed to produce a budget agreement.[27]

In recess

As of today, June 17, there are 2 state legislatures currently in recess:[28]

While the great majority of states have completed their redistricting following the 2010 census, the issue still remains for a handful of states. Maine and Montana are not required to have their maps completed until 2014. Alaska, Kentucky and Texas, however, saw their maps rejected for legal reasons and will have to take up the drawing of maps once again.

Redistricting in Alaska

Alaska's Redistricting Board created three rough drafts of maps as the first step of a court-mandated process to complete the redistricting process. It is set to begin public hearings this week in Alaska's major cities where it will also allow submissions of maps created by third parties for consideration in the process.[29]

Redistricting in Kentucky

Gov. Steve Beshear (D) has called the Kentucky State Legislature to convene a special session on August 19 to settle the matter of redistricting. The session is scheduled to last only five days and will only address state legislative and judicial district boundaries.[30]

Redistricting in Texas

Gov. Rick Perry (R) signed off on maps for Texas' congressional and state legislative districts, completed during their first special session last week. Some questioned whether or not Perry would veto the state senate maps and attempt to have Wendy Davis drawn into a Republican-leaning district as punishment for her filibuster of an abortion bill, though he did not. This does not end the redistricting process in Texas, as the state still faces legal challenges from several groups over discrimination against minorities.[31]

Louisiana and Mississippi also typically hold elections in odd years. However, legislators are elected to 4-year terms in those states and those will not be up for election again until 2015.

40 of the country's 1,972 state senate seats are up for re-election in November 2013, and 180 of the country's 5,411 state house seats are up for re-election. Altogether, 220 of the country's 7,383 state legislative seats are up for re-election on November 5, 2013.

Nomination petitions must contain the signatures of at least 100 voters in the legislative district. Candidates are required to disclose any criminal convictions.[32]

Virginia:

March 28, 2013 (Major party)

June 11, 2013 (Independent)

Nomination petitions must contain the signatures of at least 125 qualified voters in the legislative district. Major party candidates are required to submit a primary filing fee equal to 2% of the annual salary for the office sought in effect in the year in which the candidate files. In 2013, the primary filing fee was $352.80.[33]

Primaries

The state primaries were as follows:

New Jersey:

June 4, 2013

Virginia:

June 11, 2013

Results

New Jersey had a quiet election, with all competing incumbents winning their primaries.

There were only three hotly contested races, all in the Senate, but none resulted in the ousting of an incumbent:[34]

Virginia experienced two upsets in an otherwise quiet day of primaries for the House of Delegates. Voter turnout was expected to fall below 5 percent based on projections at polling locations.[35]

Virginia's legislative primaries yielded a pair of defeats for incumbent legislators. The defeated incumbents were supporters of a recently passed transportation bill that increases sales and gas taxes to improve roadways.[36][37] The successful challengers lodged primary challenges in part to protest the bill's passage, which they called the biggest tax increase in the state's history.[38]

There is no special election taking place this week. The next one is scheduled for July 23 in California.

Recent results

June 25, 2013

Massachusetts House of Representatives 8th Suffolk
Shortly after being sworn in for a 5th term, Martha Walz (D) announced she was resigning to head the Planned Parenthood League of Massachusetts. A special election was called for June 25.[39] A primary took place on May 28, which Jay D. Livingstone won. Livingstone was unopposed in the special election on June 25. Candidates had until April 23 to file certified nomination papers with the Secretary of the Commonwealth.[40][41][42]